Cleared for takeoff?

The City of St. Albert now has its own helicopter.

It's the size of a hatbox, remote-controlled, and cost about $1,600, reports Guy Boston, executive director of the city's economic development branch.

"We're looking at a more cost effective way to get aerial shots of St. Albert," Boston says.

Instead of hiring a plane or helicopter for thousands of dollars whenever they want to shoot a picture of the city, now they can have one person fly this little white quad-copter – a DJI Phantom 2 drone – instead, Boston says.

"One trip up with the drone pays for itself."

The drone made its surprise debut at the Feb. 24 business breakfast at the Enjoy Centre, flying along the back wall about five metres from the audience for about 30 seconds, say witnesses at the breakfast.

It was an impressive, and probably illegal, performance: Transport Canada regulations say you can't fly drones within 30 metres of people without a special flight operations certificate, and the city doesn't yet have one. (They should have one later this year, Boston says.)

And those rules still apply if you're indoors on private property, says Sterling Cripps of the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems – the main training centre and advocacy group for drone pilots in Canada. (Cripps is working with Transport Canada on Canada's rules for drones.)

Flying a drone near a crowd without safety nets and goggles is also a bad idea, he adds.

"If that guy had put a prop into somebody's eyeball sitting at a table, then he'd be pretty remorseful after that."

The drone industry is taking off in Canada, and the city is just one of the many enthusiasts hopping on board.

But those in the business say too many pilots clear themselves for takeoff without knowing the rules, putting the public at risk.

An industry takes flight

Chris Anderson of UAV North Aerials is one of those concerned operators. He also flies a Phantom 2, which today he is using to shoot a 40-acre site just outside of St. Albert near Big Lake.

He's also well versed in the rules of drones, which is why he's doing the drone dance before he fires up the rotors. He rotates the quad-copter several times one way and then the other on the ground, and then spins his whole body about whilst holding the drone in front of his gut.

"This actually has to happen, otherwise it doesn't work," he says of the bizarre ritual.

"If you don't do it, it'll fly away and you'll never see it again."

The rotors rev up with the sound of a swarm of angry bees, and the alien-looking device levitates off the ground. Eyes glued to it, Anderson guides it over to a nearby wrecked car, then sends it soaring 60 metres straight up to do its business.

Anderson is one of the few certified UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pilots in the Edmonton region and regularly flies in Sturgeon County. A photographer, he says he decided to jump into the drone business about a year ago after reading about them online.

"It's really fun," he says of flying the drone.

"Kind of like a big kid's toy."

With him today is Ellen Christopherson of St. Albert's Elevated Robotic Services. She says she started her company two years ago as a way to combine her love of surveying and piloting, and now uses drones to construct topographical maps.

Drones or UAVs are any vehicle that can operate without an on-board pilot, reports the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and can be any size from a small toy to a full-sized plane.

Unlike most remote-control toys, modern drones tend to be highly automated, making them very easy to fly, and can carry large payloads such as cameras and infrared sensors, giving them numerous applications.

Christopherson pulls a black stealth-bomber-shaped piece of Styrofoam out of a metal carrying case as an example. She uses this senseFly eBee drone to create 3D maps of construction sites and gravel pits. All you have to do is lay in the course on a computer, start the propeller, and chuck it in the air. It'll then fly off, take all the pictures you need, and land itself. It can even do barrel-rolls to dodge angry birds (which have come close to attacking it before).

Cripps, Anderson and Christopherson say the recent boom in commercial drone activity started about three years ago, sparked in part by massive military investment in UAVs since 2000. Cripps says his centre has trained some 600 drone pilots in the last four years as a result – 400 of those were in the last 14 months.

Commercial drones have proven useful for "dull, dirty, dangerous" work such as monitoring pipelines or mine sites, Cripps says.

The RCMP now uses drones for crime-scene reconstruction, while some farmers use them to spot disease in their fields. Anderson says they're also great for real estate or checking out tough-to-reach places like power lines, and notes that companies like Amazon hope to use them to ship packages.

While you can get a toy drone for about $30, commercial ones can cost $200 to $200,000, Christopherson says – the eBee costs $30,000.

"You're not paying for the hardware. You're paying for the software," she explains – all that automation comes at a price.

Cleared for takeoff?

Drone enthusiast Bryan Young says he's sold about five to six dozen drones to customers at downtown Edmonton's McBain Camera in the last year, but that few of those buyers knew the rules for drone operation.

"Some of them, especially recreational users, assume it's a toy."

But drones are actually highly regulated vehicles that can pose a risk to people, reports Christopherson. Just last year, a woman was sent to hospital during a triathlon after a drone crashed into her in Australia.

"What goes up must come down, and sometimes they come down in a way that's not intended."

Transport Canada requires all drone pilots to follow the Canadian Aviation Regulations and all local laws, including those related to trespassing and privacy.

That means getting the landowner's permission before a flight and warning the neighbours, Christopherson says – you don't want to accidentally photograph someone sunbathing naked in their backyard, as happened in one case by a real estate agent in Australia.

If you want to fly commercially or have a drone that weighs more than 35 kilograms, Transport Canada requires you to get a special flight operations certificate. While free, Cripps says these certificates aren't for the faint of heart, as you have to provide about 20 pages of information about your flight plan.

While you can fly a drone commercially without a certificate if you meet certain requirements, Anderson says those requirements can't be met anywhere in St. Albert.

You can't fly within nine kilometres of an airport or helipad, and the Sturgeon Community Hospital has a helipad. You also can't fly in populated areas, within 150 metres of people, animals, structures or moving vehicles, or at night. You also have to keep your drone within sight at all times and stay below 90 metres.

"To fly under the exemptions, you have to be in the absolute middle of nowhere," Anderson says. And if you don't meet the exemptions, you need a certificate.

Recreational pilots can fly without a certificate if their drone weighs less than 35 kilograms, Transport Canada says. However, they should follow the requirements mentioned above to ensure a safe flight.

Anyone who sees a drone being flown in a potentially illegal manner should contact police or Transport Canada, Cripps says. Violators can be fined up to $25,000 in some circumstances.

The rules for drones are strict, but not impossible to follow, Anderson says.

"It's just like driving a car … you follow the rules and you're allowed to do it."

Visit www.tc.gc.ca/SafetyFirst for the full list of UAV rules.